Becky Transsexual couldn’t help noticing how Labour MP, (and former ‘Blair Babe’), Caroline Flint waded into the debate on gender and public washrooms the other day with all the subtlety and forethought of a 2003 illegal invasion of a sovereign state, predictably leaving similarly high levels of ‘shock and awe’ amongst the thinking classes in her wake. The Beckinator finds the saddest aspect of all of this, though, is how self-publicizing radio Caroline has turned out to be something more of a weapon of mass distraction than destruction (of self, or otherwise), at least so far as such.

I mean, how disappointing that the first-ever UK parliamentary debate into transgender equality should become derailed to concentrate on how trans and gender non-conforming people pose such a supposedly potential threat to cis people when using public facilities. Particularly so, when statistically, it has been shown time after time that it’s actually us who are far, far more likely to be attacked by cis people than the other way ’round.

But what self-promoting, publicity-seeking, vote-hungry career politician ever passed up the opportunity to ingratiate oneself to the Great British Tabloid, eh? Moreover, with the shock decision of 52 per cent of the UK to Brexit; a correspondingly startling rise in the popularity of far-right parties across Europe and the realisation of the nightmare scenario of Donald Duck being elected as President of the USA, I guess it’s only natural that a type of politician with no specific ideology other than furthering their own career should see it as currently imperative that they now cash in their chips with the shift toward the extreme right.

This one, of course, insists she is not transphobic and as a socialist women MP is a great friend of LGBT people; a trusty comrade with a homotransphilic ‘squeaky clean’ voting record to match – whom (like the recently glitter-bombed George Galloway) comes not to bury us, but to praise us. Instead, Flint assures us, what her misgivings on the prospect of what she terms ‘gender-neutral’ public facilities was all about was her concern for the safety of women. She actually said that ya know, she said she cares *passionately* for the rights of women…and, erm…oh yes, those transgenders. (Whom, the women amongst whom, presumably, she doesn’t actually class as women by her omission of us). Gee thanx, Caroline: unconscious bias, much??!

Moreover, your derailing of a debate that was supposed to be about transgender equality (which I guess also includes the right to safety) to transforming it into something that was ‘all about teh cis’ is kinda reminiscent of what femeenists such as yourself complain about when MRAs take over debates about sexism’s impact on women by claiming that the issue is that men are the ones who are really discriminated against, not women. kettle, pot, black, much?;)

Must admit, the more the Bexxxster thinks on this the more she wonders if Caroline Flintstone is genuine in her claims that she is not transphobic. Hhhhmmmmmmmmmm…..

Well, lookey what we got ourselves here now…………….Facts-wise, that is. For starters, it didn’t help that she highlighted a transphobic article in the New Statesman on the subject, by serial trans exclusionary ‘radical’ feminist, Sarah Ditum as her primary motivation in raising such concerns. I mean quoting someone like Sarah Ditum on Twitter as an inspiration for asking a question in a parliamentary debate about transgender equality is equivalent to citing notorious Neo-Nazi holocaust revisionist, David Irving as a reliable source in one on anti-Semitism. CerrriKKKey!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m sure alarm bells would rightly go off if a mainstream MP had done that and their real intentions and sympathies be subsequently probed to find out if they are in line with the views of an avowedly left-wing/liberal democratic political party or whether they need to be expelled so they can peddle their irrational hate with the BNP! With some irony moreover, a keen critic of Jeremy Corbyn like Flint would have probably wasted no time in being one of the first to slap down one of his supporters for doing so!

Flint’s relationship with Sarah Ditum in this regard is kind of worrying – particularly so, since Flint has not only cited Ditum once, but has also now thanked her gushingly in a further Tweet following this controversy. Ditum is NOT an unbiased source and it would be fairly clear beyond all reasonable doubt to a reasonably intelligent person like veteran front-bench, high-profile MP Caroline Flint to realise this. Ditum has a history; a track record of hostility towards the transgender community. If they’re mates and believe exactly the same things about the trans community, as a prominent public servant, Flint should at least be up-front about it. In a world where politicians are increasingly gaining a reputation for being two-faced, an increasingly weary electorate deserve to know if they are voting for a progressive MP or instead someone who has more in common with US Republicans in North Carolina in regard to certain issues and certain groups of people.

No doubt Flint and her supporters will try and make this all about being ‘no platformed’ (as is the current, ‘oh, those beastly trans activists!’ standard ‘excuse’ rolled out by those challenged on their transphobia). I, and I suspect most of the people within the trans community, contrary to tabloid accusations and those of the usual self-appointed right-wing pundits, have no desire to no-platform anyone for expressing their own stupid and bigoted ideas, but if Caroline Flint is using her position to lobby and grandstand on transphobic people’s behalf then she should declare such an interest so we all know exactly where we are with her. It actually goes beyond transgender issues alone: speaking with forked-tongue is precisely what causes the cynicism towards mainstream politics that so many politicians are apt to accuse the electorate of. Not good for the health of a supposedly liberal democracy. And, meantime, by filibustering and attempting to further erase the voice and collective experience (not to mention desperate needs) of a minority group – who is effectively ‘no platforming’ whom here?

Soap box rant over and out…and I can assure you, I remain very OUT and intend to do so indefinitely!